The environment can have a major influence on aviation and lead to delays and cancellation of flights. Safety must always be paramount and even with the latest technology and major investment in infrastructure aviation will still be affected by issues such as fog, significant snowfall and volcanic ash.

The CAA has and will continue to encourage industry to develop technologies and procedures to reduce the disruption these issues can bring. The CAA is also the UK body responsible for enforcing European regulations covering airline and airport responsibilities to passengers adversely affected.